Regularly updated commentary on politics from the site that has never made any bones about what it thinks Bush should do...since 2000.

Saturday, February 12, 2005

It's All Dean

I found an article with some interesting info about Howard Dean, and what he thinks our priorities should be as a country. One interesting factoid:

HEALTHCARE: Everyone knows that universal healthcare is one of the cornerstones of Dr. Dean’s campaign. According to Cici Connolly of The Washington Post, census bureau statistics show Vermont to be the best state for insuring children. Doctors who have private practices know how health insurance should work.

Dean doesn’t believe we should immediately begin a total overhaul of the system. Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter, and Bill & Hillary Clinton all tried and failed. People need insurance now. In Vermont after trying and failing to develop a single payer system, he went with a Medicaid-like state funded program. It covers all citizens under the age of 33 who are not already insured. All people over 65 get covered by Medicare and get prescription benefits. The folks in between, aged 34-65, if not covered at work, can buy into the same program that the U.S. Congress uses and it will never cost more than 7 1/2 % of their adjusted gross income. He knows it’s not the perfect solution, but it covers almost everyone right away and leaves time for the total overhaul. And the cost…87 billion dollars to insure everyone in the country. Familiar number?? It should be. We just spent this on Iraq [late 2003 article].

Yeah, it's also less expensive to cover that healthcare than it is to pay for the annual cost of Bush's medicare program over the next 10 years....

The White House released budget figures yesterday indicating that the new Medicare prescription drug benefit will cost more than $1.2 trillion in the coming decade, a much higher price tag than President Bush (news - web sites) suggested when he narrowly won passage of the law in late 2003.

Health care for everybody, every year, for less than Bush's Medicare "reform" alone? I'm on board. The article also has info on Dean's positions on other issues of importance.